Everything
by emmylouuwho
Summary: Jess/Becker one shots based on the five senses.
1. Hearing

**Author's Note: I tried to put these in chronological order, but some could take place anytime. Enjoy. This one is set before Abby and Connor come back from the past.**

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><p><em>You calm the storms, and you give me rest.<em>

_You hold me in your hands, you won't let me fall..._

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><p>Becker woke up that morning knowing it was going to be a crap day. And by lunchtime his assumption proved to be true. There wasn't an anomaly alert; that he could handle. At least that would have kept him from thinking about how different this day had been the year before. It was the boredom between anomalies, that was filled only by endless, redundant, unnecessary (in Becker's opinion anyway) paperwork. Even after over a month of working there, he still couldn't get used to working at the new ARC.<p>

Last year, they'd all been there. Danny, Abby, Connor, Sarah. Now none of them were.

_He brushed past Connor, who was still babbling about something or other, and continued down the corridor to the ARC's main room. He pushed open the swinging doors, Connor just behind him, and saw that most of the ARC staff were gathered there, ostensibly waiting for him. Danny, Abby, and Sarah were right in front, Danny and Sarah grinning, Abby giving Connor an exasperated look._

"_Keep him distracted, I said."_

"_Well, I tried, didn't I? Only, I don't know if you've noticed, he's quite a bit bigger than I am, and he was giving me that look. That Connor-I'm-about-to-shoot-you look..."_

Becker sat in the locker room, fiddling with his keys. He heard footsteps, or more specifically, the _click-clack_ of high heels coming towards him. Jess Parker, the new field coordinator, was coming down the hall; he always knew it was her a mile off. In the short time they'd been working together, Becker and Jess had become unlikely friends. At first Becker wanted to remain detached from his colleagues, especially after what happened to the old team; he couldn't handle losing any more friends. But he doubted anyone could resist Jess when she'd made her mind up about something, and she had decided they were going to be friends. They spent a great deal of time together, probably more than was strictly necessary, but Becker didn't like to think about that.

"Going out for lunch?" she asked, pulling her bag and jacket out of her locker.

"Yep." He stood, zipping his jacket closed to avoid the questioning glance he knew was forthcoming.

"Alright... Well, I'll see you later then."

She smiled as he passed, and he nodded in response as he walked toward the door. He'd just reached the locker room doors when she spoke again.

"You do have your black box, don't you? In case there's an anomaly."

"Yes Jess," he replied without turning, and left.

Twenty minutes later, Becker was sitting on a park bench under a large oak tree, hoping the familiar, everyday sounds - laughing families picnicking, joggers and dog-walkers, birds chirping, the wind rustling the leaves - would drown out the voices of his painful memories. It was then that Jess walked up behind him. Without a word, she stepped around the bench and sat down, looking straight ahead in the same direction as Becker had been.

He turned to raise an eyebrow at her. "What are you doing here?"

"Followed you," she replied succinctly.

Becker looked straight ahead again, impressed despite himself. She was sneakier than he thought, if she could tail a trained soldier like himself without him noticing. Of course, he hadn't exactly been worried about being followed; he was lost in his thoughts and memories.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked quietly.

"About what?" he replied, defensively.

"About whatever is bothering you." He glanced at her, but she sat as calmly as ever, looking out at the park. Well, not completely calm - her legs were crossed and her right foot tapped out an erratic rhythm where it hung in midair.

Becker wouldn't be at all surprised if she knew exactly what today was, and why it was bothering him. She always seemed to know _everything_, and had an uncanny ability to anticipate things. These were very useful traits in a field coordinator, but somewhat disconcerting ones in a friend. Particularly a friend that he might or might not fancy.

"No," he replied finally.

"Do you mind if I talk?" She finally turned to look him in the eye, and he could see how much she was holding in. With a wry grin, he nodded.

"OK, well, I don't know if you follow office gossip, but Mike and Kathy in botany have split up. Again. The other night, a bunch of us went out for drinks after work, and Mike got a bit, well, wasted..."

Becker wasn't really paying too much attention; he watched people walking by, going about their routines, and listened to the sound of Jess' voice talking about ordinary things (she'd somehow moved on to _X Factor_). No anomalies, no creatures. And it helped, this undemanding conversation (well, more of a monologue); he didn't feel so isolated anymore. She was showing him that he still had friends, people who cared, at the ARC. Her bubbly attitude was infectious. Before long, Becker found himself contributing occasionally to her steady stream of chatter, and eventually they got up to go get some lunch before their breaks ended.

"By the way, Becker," Jess said as they walked to the car park. "Happy birthday."

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><p><em>Cause you're all I want.<em>

_You're all I need._

_You're everything, everything..._


	2. Taste

**A/N: Takes place about two weeks after 4.02.**

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><p><em>You steal my heart, and you take my breath away.<em>

_Would you take me in, take me deeper now..._

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><p>Bringing Jess back a chocolate bar after an anomaly alert had become something of a habit for Becker, ever since that first bar he bought for her a few weeks ago. He would come over to the ADD, plug in his black box, and set the chocolate next to the keyboard. And Jess would look over at him and grin like a little kid. He found himself looking forward to that grin more and more.<p>

That particular day, Becker never made it back to Ops. Walking in from the car park, he and Mitchell supported one of the new recruits, a Sgt. Davies, between them, slowly moving towards Medical. He handed his black box, along with those of the other two soldiers, to one of his men to take back to Jess.

It should have been a simple anomaly alert. The anomaly was in the parking lot of an abandoned building, and the only creature incursion was a single Diictodon, who went back through the anomaly after his team spent about fifteen minutes corralling it. Davies, who in Becker's opinion looked about twelve, had gotten a little overexcited by the small Diictodon, shot at it with his EMD, and missed, hitting the metal side of a dumpster. The shot ricocheted, hitting the young soldier himself.

After sorting out his (idiotically) injured subordinate, Becker spent the rest of the day on paperwork. When five o'clock finally rolled around, he sat back from his desk with a relieved sigh, rubbing his eyes, leaving the rest for the next morning. Getting up, he went to the locker room to change back into his civvies and head home.

Jess walked into the locker room just as he was closing his locker.

"Hey, Becker," she said, smiling briefly, before briskly walking over to her own locker.

As usual, her thoughts were clearly written across her face. In the few moments it took her to hide behind her locker door, Becker saw the usual delighted look she wore whenever she saw him, relief that he was alright, and disappointment that this was the first time she was seeing him since he came back from the anomaly that afternoon. He smiled, reopening his locker and checking the pockets of his vest where it hung inside. He found what he wanted, closed his locker, and walked quietly over to her.

Jess was digging through her purse, which was sitting on the bench running parallel to the lockers. She was looking for something, or avoiding looking at him, Becker couldn't tell. He set the bar of plain dark chocolate on the bench next to her bag. She looked up, her mouth open in surprise for a moment.

"Thank you." A genuine smile, much more akin to the grin he looked forward to than the previous smile, spread across her face, quickly followed by a faint blush coloring her cheeks as she picked up the chocolate.

Becker nodded at the bar in her hands, raising his eyebrows. "Planning on sharing that?"

"Sure." She opened it, breaking off two squares, handing one to him and popping the other in her mouth.

Becker watched as Jess pulled her coat off its hanger and slipped it on before resuming her search for... something. She broke off another piece of chocolate, then checked her coat pockets, finally pulling out her keys with a muttered "Hah!" Becker snorted with laughter at the look of utter triumph on her face. She shot him a withering look.

"Are you going to eat that, or just let it melt all over your hand?" she said, and he looked down to see that his square of chocolate was indeed starting to melt between his fingers. He put the piece in his mouth, sucking the melted chocolate off his thumb and forefinger.

Becker was happily enjoying his piece of chocolate when he noticed Jess giving him an odd look, as if she could barely keep from laughing. He cocked his head questioningly.

"What?"

"You've got, um... Here..."

She took a step towards him, and used her thumb to wipe a bit of chocolate off his cheek near the corner of his mouth. She looked around as if she couldn't decide what to do, then on impulse stuck her thumb in her mouth. She was inches away as she looked up at him, blushing, her thumb resting on her lower lip.

Without a second thought, Becker cupped her cheek in his hand, feeling the warmth of her blush, his thumb brushing across her cheek. She just stood there, looking at him, her hands falling to her sides, then reaching up to mess with one of the buttons on her coat. She was close enough that her knuckles brushed against his stomach as she fiddled with her coat button. Leaning down, he pressed his lips to hers.

His first coherent thought when he pulled away a few minutes later was of the taste of cheery lip balm and chocolate on her lips. Jess was standing there, her eyes still closed, her lips parted slightly. She opened her eyes, looking at him dazedly. Whispered a soft "Oh."

_Cherries and chocolate. That's what she tastes like._

He rubbed his thumb across her cheek, and she smiled. No, grinned. That childlike grin Becker looked for every time he came back from an anomaly. And he found an answering grin spread across his face, that he had no doubt was identical to hers.

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><p><em>Cause you're all I want.<em>

_You're all I need._

_You're everything, everything..._


	3. Smell

**A/N: Could take place anytime during series 4 really.**

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><p><em>How can I stand here with you, and not be moved by you?<em>

_Would you tell me, how could it be any better than this?_

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><p>In the short amount of time it took him to walk from his car to the door of the ARC, Becker was already sweating. And it was only nine in the morning. They were in the third day of a heat wave, and today was meant to be the worst of it - the temperature was supposed to top 100° F that afternoon.<p>

An hour later, Becker was walking down the corridor toward Ops, not really watching where he was going as he scanned a report he was about to give to Jess. As he neared the ADD, he suddenly felt as though he were at the beach, a faint smell of sunscreen on the air. Looking up, he saw that, like most of the civilian staff, Jess was dressed for the weather. She wore a haltered yellow sundress, her hair in a single loose braid, one foot tucked under her, the other sandaled foot swinging in midair. He noticed that her bare shoulders were faintly pink, and, when she turned to him, flashing a happy smile his way, the bridge of her nose was equally sunburned.

"How can you be this cheerful when it feels like a sauna outside?" he asked, affecting an irritated expression and trying not to grin in answer to her smile.

She continued grinning, either too happy to be bothered or because she knew her cheery attitude was rubbing off on him.

"I love warm weather," she said brightly. "Besides, it's not that bad."

"Warm? I felt like I was being baked alive," Connor said, walking up to stand on the other side of Jess' chair.

Jess rolled her eyes at Becker, who smirked in response. Reluctantly, he turned back in the direction of his office, but the scents of summer, of coconut and pineapple, seemed to follow him the rest of the day.

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><p><em>Cause you're all I want.<em>

_You're all I need._

_You're everything, everything..._


	4. Touch

**A/N: Takes place after Jess & Becker start dating.**

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><p><em>You are the light, that's leading me<em>

_to the place where I find peace again..._

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><p>Jess woke with a gasp, and for a moment couldn't remember where she was. Someone put a hand on her arm, and she panicked, swinging her arms wildly about her.<p>

"No!" she mumbled fearfully.

Strong arms encircled her in a viselike grip, not hurting her, but not letting her move either.

"Jess! Jess! It's me. You're OK. It's me. You're safe."

Her eyes started to focus, and the first thing she saw clearly was Becker's concerned face, inches from her own. She looked at him a moment, still gasping for breath, then collapsed against his chest, shaking.

"Becker," Jess whispered, wrapping her arms tightly about his waist. "Don't let go. Don't let me go."

His arm tightened around her shoulders, one hand moving up to stroke her hair. Becker continued murmuring soothingly in her ear, and she laid her head on his shoulder, her arms laced around him. The reassuring feel of him in her arms did a lot to calm her.

As with most of her nightmares, the details began to fade within minutes, and before long, her breathing had calmed until she was almost asleep, despite her half-seated position against Becker's chest, his arms still tightly wound around her.

His voice still drifted through her sleepy haze. "I'm here. I'm here..."

But more than the words, his arms about her shoulders, protecting her even from imagined dangers, told her this. _I'm here. You're safe._

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><p><em>Cause you're all I want.<em>

_You're all I need._

_You're everything, everything..._


	5. Sight

**A/N: Takes place about a year after Jess and Becker start dating.**

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><p><em>You are the strength that keeps me walking.<em>

_You are the hope that keeps me trusting..._

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><p>Jess Parker sat in front of her dresser, pulling bobby pins out of her hair. She stood, walking over to the bathroom as she brushed her hair, and was met with the sight of Becker standing before the sink, brushing his teeth. He was shirtless, a pair of black sweatpants sitting low on his hips. She leaned against the door jamb, and he smiled at her in the mirror, his mouth lined with toothpaste foam. She grinned at this uncharacteristically silly sight, and he made a face at her before leaning over to rinse the toothpaste out of his mouth.<p>

The corded muscles of his broad shoulders moved under tan skin as he straightened. Even after two months of living together, and over a year of seeing each other, she was still struck sometimes by the fact that he was with her. Action Man Becker, as Connor jokingly called him, and tiny little Jess. She didn't think she'd ever quite get used to it. Even after what she'd found out that day.

She smiled as she remembered the first time she'd seen him in this state, namely, without a shirt on. It was just after he'd been bitten by a venomous creature and nearly died, and she realized how important he truly was to her. Before that, he'd just been a crush, a cute guy at work that she flirted with occasionally. Well, maybe more than occasionally.

She remembered seeing the small tattoo on his arm, and wondering about the story behind it. Since that day, she'd learned that it was the result of a night of drunken hazing at his first posting on a base in Indonesia. Jess once asked why he didn't get it removed, and he replied that it was a reminder of those friends, many of whom died not long after. And, he had added with a smile, it was a good reminder not to be an idiot.

Still leaning against the bathroom doorway, Jess thought back over the day. She hadn't meant to snoop. Really. It was her week to do laundry, and she was putting the clean clothes away. Becker was a little particular about his sock drawer, and she was straightening it up when she noticed one of the socks had something inside it. Emptying it into her hand, she found a small black velvet ring box. Jess had almost fainted from shock right then, at the sight of that box.

Becker had always been a little gun-shy when it came to commitment, Jess knew. Not because he was afraid of it, but because he seemed to think he wouldn't be around long enough to hold up his end of the... vows. But it seemed that, since they'd stopped Philip Burton, Becker wasn't so convinced he was going to die any day. _Vows. I'm getting married! _She'd thought excitedly, jumping up and down in the (fortunately) empty flat, the rest of the laundry forgotten. After a few minutes of unabashed glee, she finally calmed down enough to think clearly again. Opening the box slowly, she saw a simple gold band with a single diamond. _Not so fast. Don't get ahead of yourself. He hasn't actually asked you yet._ She looked around, suddenly cautious, and carefully put the box back inside its hiding place, and was just shutting the drawer when she heard the front door open and Becker call out to her.

A hand on her crossed arms brought Jess back to the present. She realized that she had been staring off into space for several minutes. Becker was in front of her, looking down at her with concern in his eyes.

"You alright?"

"Yeah," she replied brightly. She looked in his eyes, and felt that, somehow, he knew exactly what she'd been thinking. He had this infuriating ability to read everything she was thinking on her face. But she wasn't going to let him trick her into confessing that easily.

"Jessica," he said softly, the word almost a question, one eyebrow raised. "Why do I feel like there's something you're not telling me?"

"Because there usually is," she replied, planting a kiss on his cheek before turning back to the bedroom.

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><p><em>Cause you're all I want.<em>

_You're all I need._

_You're everything, everything..._


End file.
